Rolling science labs bring tools, inspiration to youngsters

By eSchool News

June 9th, 2009

Boston University Medical School’s Carl Franzblau wanted to expose more young people to science, and he had a vision inspired by a bloodmobile. The result — mobile science laboratories that bring science education to students — is expanding across the country, USA Today reports. Mobile labs are active in at least 10 states and are an important tool in attracting young people to the so-called STEM courses, Franzblau says–science, technology, engineering and math. The labs are buses or semis outfitted with the basics of science education: electricity, distilled water, freezers and refrigerators, scales, microscopes, and even computer systems. They are designed to travel to schools that don’t have the resources to teach modern science to students, but they also are crucial in providing training to teachers in a field that can see a new discovery change curriculums overnight. What began in 1998 with one bus has grown to at least 13 vehicles…